Naruto: Search of the Spirit Shrines
by Engear
Summary: : A 5 year old Naruto accidentally stumbled upon an ancient shrine, and he was amazed by the knowledge of the shrine and vowed to find all the shrine in the world to gain more knowledge about these shrines. "I do not own Naruto, it belongs to Kishimoto"
1. Chapter 1

**Naruto** : **Search of the Spirit Shrines**

 **Summary:** **A 5 year old Naruto accidently stumbled upon an ancient shrine, and he was amazed by the knowledge of the shrine and vowed to find all the shrine in the world to gain more knowledge about these shrines.**

 **A/N: In this story Naruto will be smart, not as smart as Shikamaru but not that dumb as well. He will have all basic knowledge as the other kids.**

Chapter 1: The Bear Shrine

* * *

It was late at night, silence was everywhere and it was quite peaceful. This peace was broken the sound of footsteps. A five year old boy was running for his life, behind him a mob of villagers carrying flaming torches, brooms and pitchforks.

"Don't let him escape!" one villager yelled

"Catch the Demon brat" another yelled

"Kill that thing!" shouts like this were heard coming from the villagers. The boy ran and ran until he ran deep inside the forest. He turned around and saw that the villagers were not following him anymore. But he was now lost and all alone in the forest. He grew scared and frightened but kept going forward.

"I am Uz-Uzumaki Naruto. I-I don't get scared." he said to himself but his legs was shaking and hands were clasped with each other. He kept walking forward until he slipped and fell in to a hole.

"Ouch" he rubbed his head and saw that this was no hole it was a tunnel. He saw light at the end of the tunnel, he shrugged his shoulders and walked towards the light. A few minutes later he saw the most amazing sight before him. A beautiful lake with statues surrounding the area. It looked like a shrine. Across the lake he saw a large statue. He jumped into the lake and swam across to the statue. It was a Giant statue of a Bear. Below the statue there was something written:

 _The Bear_

 _A Kind and Powerful animal._

 _Kind and humble to its allies._

 _Ferocious and dangerous to its enemies._

Naruto was amazed by this and looked around the cave. He found an opening near one of the statues. Inside he found just one scroll. He opened and read:

 _The bear, a spirit of the wild, who helped this world fight against the threat of the demon the planned to invade and destroy this world. Along with his fellow Sprits of The wild, they destroyed the king of the demons._

 _The bear is kind and gentle its allies and crushes its enemies will all his power._

"Wow!" Naruto had sparkles in his eyes.

"I wonder how many Sprits were there" He wondered

He walked around the shrine a bit more and suddenly a thought occurred to him,

"Wait a minute...If the Sprits destroyed all the demons then, how did the Kyuubi attacked the village." He wondered and to find the answers he looked around the cave but found no more clues.

"So Tired!" He yawned and drifted off to sleep.

Naruto felt warn as if someone covered him with a blanket of fur. He woke up and felt a soft breeze across his face and unknowingly just followed it. A few minutes later he found himself at the gates of Konoha. He just blinked stupidly. One of the guards of the gate suddenly found Naruto just standing and staring.

"Naruto? What are you doing here?" Kotetsu, The ninja on Gate guard duty asked

"I don't know" he replied

Kotetsu just looked at him like he was crazy,

"Well... Go back home it's still early in the morning" Kotetsu said.

Naruto just dumbly nodded and left. On his way he thought how did he ever get there when he was lost and in the cave and only one answer came to his mind, The spirit of The Bear, with that thought in his mind he smiled all the way home.

The Next day he went to the Hokage, as he waked to the Hokage's office, he saw the people glaring at him and calling him names. He was very angry at that, He did nothing to them so why does everybody treat his like garbage. He had enough and was about to shout at them but he suddenly remembered the inscription on the statue of the bear spirit.

'Kind and Humble to allies' he thought

'Well...they are my villagers so they are allies' with that though he just smiled and left for the office.

In then office, the Hokage was smoking pipe and doing his paperwork. When suddenly Naruto busted in.

"YO Jiji!" he smiled brightly. The Hokage looked up and smiled

"So, what can I do for you Naruto-kun?"

"I was wondering if you know anything about something called the spirits of the wild."

"Spirits of the wild?" He thought deeply "Hmm... I have never heard of them"

"Really!" Naruto was shocked "Ok then... See ya later!"

He walked out of the office and went to the training grounds.

"Well if the Hokage doesn't know about the Spirits then they must be pretty old"

In the training fields he saw a ninja training with a bo stick he was amazed by him. The ninja noticed Naruto which frightened him and he ran away.

'Ok...I need to start training and i know just what to start with' he secretly smiled and went to the forest. Later at night he crafted himself a homemade staff. He was very impressed with his work. He observed his work very carefully and shouted

"Yatta! I did it!"

Every day he would watch the ninja train and copy his moves and practice it. Someday he would watch the ninja do taijutsu and sometimes he would practice with his Bo staff.

 _ **Time skip: 5 years.**_

Naruto is finally getting to enter the Ninja Academy. He was very excited, there at the academy he saw the children being dropped off at school by their parents. He envied those, he always wished he had his parents with him but the Hokage told that died protecting the village, so he was proud of his parents. He noticed the parent's telling their kids to watch out for him and stay away, this made him sad and he walked inside the classroom.

Naruto saw all the students in the class come in.

'Whoa! All the clan heirs in the same class. This will be interesting' he thought

In the class were some civilians along with the clan heirs - Nara Shikamaru, Akimichi Choji, Yamanaka Ino, Inuzuka Kiba, Aburane Shino, Hyuuga Hinata and Uchiha Sasuke.

 **A/N: I am going to skip the academy and move along to the graduation. In the academy it's basically the same as always, insulted by classmates and all that stuff. Naruto kept his Bo staff training a secret from others so no one in the academy knows about it. I'm not sure how long academy lasts Sooooo...**

 **Time skip: 3 years**

Today was the day of graduations, everybody was excited except for Naruto. You see yesterday, Iruka sensei told the class what jutsu to perform to graduate and among that was the Clone jutsu and Naruto sucked at that.

Finally Naruto's turn came to do the jutsu,

"Ok Naruto, so far so good, just do the clone jutsu and you will pass" Iruka said

Naruto gulped 'OK Ok you can do it...just need to Focus"

"Bushin no Jutsu" What appeared was a dead pale clone of Naruto lying on the ground,

Iruka sighed "Sorry Naruto but you fail"

"Bu-But Iruka sensei"

"Come on Iruka, the kid did enough maybe you could pass him?" Mizuki told Iruka

"Sorry, But my decision is final." Iruka said,

Naruto sighed and just walked out depressed, Iruka felt bad but he had to do what he did, he could no show favoritism to anyone.

Naruto was depressed and when he heard the parents saying stuff like 'serves him right' 'why did the Hokage even let him join the academy' he got even more depressed. Among the crowds was Hinata who looked at Naruto and was sad for him.

Mizuki came to Naruto and told him to follow him. They went to an unknown location.

"You know Naruto, I can give an alternate exam and make you a ninja." Mizuki smiled

"Really!" Naruto's hopes were high. Mizuki whispered something to his ear and left.

That Night at the Hokage tower, all the ninjas were gathered.

"Go find Naruto and bring him here" The Hokage ordered 'Naruto what made you do this"

Naruto was in a Cabin In The woods and was practicing ninjutsu when all of a sudden Iruka showed up and boinked him on the head.

"You Idiot! Do you know what you did!" Iruka screamed

"Whaa... I was just doing my alternate exam to be a ninja? Why did you hit me" Naruto asked while rubbing his head.

"Alternate exam? Naruto there is no alternate exam! Who told you that?" Iruka asked

"Mizu..."Naruto did not get to finish his sentence when a shuriken attacked them. Iruka carried Naruto and avoided the shuriken.

"Mizuki stop... We got him! No need for extreme measures" Iruka told him

Mizuki just laughed "Oh and why not? He is after all a demon and who you think told him to steal the scroll. Huh!"

Iruka was shocked at this.

"De-demon? What are you talking about?" Naruto spoke

"Oh, you wanna know huh? You wanna know why the villagers..." Mizuki was interrupted by Iruka

"MIZUKI STOP"

"WHY SHOULD I"

"IT'S FORBIDDEN"

"WELL HE WANTS TO KNOW DONT YOU NARUTO, YOU WANT TO KNOW WHY THE VILLAGERS HATE YOU" Naruto could only nod

"MIZUKI NOOO" Iruka shouted and jumped at Mizuki who avoided and kicked him back. Mizuki unhooked the Windmill shuriken on his back and looked at Naruto

"THE VILLAGERS HATE YOU BECAUSE YOU ARE THE KYUUBI REINCARNATED YOU DEMON! NOW DIEE!" Mizuki threw the shuriken to Naruto.

Naruto was shocked by this and just closed his eyes and ready for death but it never came. Iruka protected him.

"W-w-why" Naruto asked

"b-because you a-are not the Fo-Fox. RUN Naruto" Iruka told him, Naruto just nodded and ran.

"Tch…Iruka, I'll get you for that later" Mizuki told and went after Naruto.

In the forest Iruka suddenly showed up next to Naruto and asked for the scroll but Naruto just head-butted him. Both crashed in the ground.

"How did you know I was not Iruka" Suddenly Iruka poofed and transformed to Mizuki

Naruto just smiled and said "Because I am Iruka" and poofed into Iruka.

"Tch Iruka... Why are you protecting the demon, he killed your parents!" Mizuki said

"Yeah, the Demon did kill my parents..." Iruka said while looking down on the ground.

Naruto was hiding behind the trees and heard that and was now depressed until

"..But Naruto is different, don't you see," Iruka looked Mizuki in the eye "The village treats him like a pariah but he never fights back or say anything to them, he always tries to help out but the villagers don't let him, he is the kindest person in the village i know, If he were to be a demon he would have killed them already. Naruto is Naruto and Kyuubi is Kyuubi They are both different, don't ever say they are the same!"

Mizuki was very irritated by now "Say what you want but you are dying RIGHT NOW!"

Iruka closed his eyes while Mizuki threw the windmill Shuriken at him but it never came. He saw Naruto standing there and Mizuki on the ground.

"YOU WILL STAY AWAY FROM IRUKA SENSEI OR I WILL BEAT YOU UP!" Naruto said.

Mizuki laughed and said "you think you'll be able to defeat me alone!"

"Who says I'm alone" Naruto put his hands to a cross sign and "TAJUU KAGE BUSHIN NO JUTSU"

Mizuki was surrounded by hundreds of Naruto clones, each of them had a Bo staff.

"MIZUKI GET READY FOR THE BEATING OF YOU LIFE" all the Naruto said together,

All that could be heard as Mizuki's scream.

"Wow, Naruto that was awesome!" Iruka said,

"Yeah well... I'm Kind and Humble to My allies but Ferocious and dangerous to my enemies" Naruto laughed.

"Wow... Where did you hear that and when did you learn to use a Bo staff?"

"I have been practicing with it since I was 5," Naruto smiled but it did not last long,

"Since the exam was fake, I guess I'm not a ninja" Naruto looked down

"Close your eyes" Iruka said

'What?"

"Close your eyes"

Naruto closed them and felt something being tied to his forehead, when he opened he saw Iruka without his forehead protector and realized he was wearing it. This shocked him.

"Wh-Why?"

"Well, you did save my Life" Iruka said and Naruto just Hugged him.

In the Hokage's Office all the ninja's were gathered

"Hokage-sama, we did not find him!" a ninja said

"Don't worry, he's been found, you're all dismissed" the Hokage just smiled

-X-X-X-

* * *

 _ **A/N: In this story Naruto's dream is not to be a Hokage but to find all the shrines of the spirits and find out why a demon like Kyuubi walked this earth. And Naruto has been king to all his fellow students some appreciate him and some just brushed him off. He has some friends but majority hate him.**_

 _ **Thanks for reading.**_


	2. Chapter 2

**Naruto** : **Search of the Spirit Shrines**

 _ **Chapter 2: Teams and teamwork**_

* * *

The day after the graduation day all the students that passed gathered in the class room. Among them Naruto was one of them,

"Oi Naruto, only those who passed are supposed to be here." Shikamaru said while yawning,

"Well... I passed" Naruto said happily,

"Oh Ho! Congratulations, Glad you made it" Choji said while offering him some chips.

"Thanks Choji"

"I WIN" shout came from the door, two students Ino and Sakura again started with their rivalry.

"NO! I WIN YOU PIG" Sakura shouted,

"SHUT UP! FOREHEAD I WIN!" Ino challenged back,

They both rushed towards Naruto

"NARUTO MOVE! I WILL SEAT NEXT TO SASUKE" Sakura shouted

"Ok fine! No need to shout" Naruto replied while rubbing his ears,

"SHUT UP! IDIOT AND MOVE FAST!" Sakura pushed him out,

Naruto balanced himself and avoided falling down and went to seat next to Shikamaru and Choji.

"Why do you not say anything when she pushes you around" Choji asked while munching his BBQ chips,

"Well... She is a fellow ninja, and i won't hurt my allies no matter what" Naruto smiled

"Wow... after all this time you're still saying that" A voice came from behind

They turned around to see Kiba standing there.

"And what's up with your clothes" Kiba said, "You think those clothes make you look cool...Well it doesn't" he laughed and went away

"Don't listen to him Naruto," Choji said

"But he's right, what's up with the new clothes" Shikamaru asked

Naruto was wearing a full sleeve Orange Kimono Shirt tied with a Black Sash on the waist, Black three quarter that fell till his upper calves with the ends of the pants elasticated. He had his forehead protector attached to his sash and carried two hanbo. (A small type of staff).

* * *

 **[A/n: Image of Naruto's clothes is the cover image of the story as well as my profile picture]**

* * *

"Well I thought it was time for a change. This feels more comfortable." He laughed

"Well, you still didn't get rid of the orange." They both laughed while Naruto Grumbled.

"Ha-ha! And what's up with the sticks" Choji asked as he noticed the sticks.

"Oh that's my Bo Staff" Naruto replied

The class was noisy as always as Iruka walked in the classroom, He asked for them to pay attention but no one listened to him. So he took a mouth full of air and shouted

"HEY! LISTEN UP UNLESS YOU WANT TO BE DEMOTED!" He threatened

Surprisingly everyone kept quiet and listened

"I am going to call out your team names so everybody pay attention." He took the list out of a folder and started calling out their team names and senseis

"Team 1 will be...Team 7 will be Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura..." He got interrupted

"YES! SHANNARO TAKE THAT INO-PIG!" Sakura shouted at Ino

"SAKURA SHUT UP OR I'LL DEMOTE YOU "Iruka shouted back and Sakura dropped back down

"As i was saying Team 7 will be Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura and Uzumaki Naruto"

"Team 8 will be Hyuuga Hinata, Aburane Shino and Inuzuka Kiba, Team 9 is already present so team 10 will be Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru and Akimichi Choji...That's all Your sensei will pick you up" With that he left the class.

Team 8 left with Kurenai sensei and team 10 left with Asuma sensei and everyone else left, the only team remaining was team 7, Sasuke was brooding in a corner and Sakura was pacing back and forth while Naruto was just waiting patiently. After a long time, the door opened and a man came in, He had white hair with his entire face covered with only one eye,

"Team 7, meet me at the roof top" He told and vanished

On the roof top their sensei was waiting for them,

"Gather around you guys and take a seat" They did as told

"Now tell me your name, likes, dislikes and dreams"

"Sensei... Why don't you go first as an example?" Sakura said

"Ok then...I am Hatake Kakashi, my likes and dislikes are not for you to know, my hobby is mine only and as for my dream I'm not sharing with you. Now you go Blondie" He eye smiled at Naruto

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto, I like Ramen, The Spirits of the wild and loyal allies, I dislike demons, untrustworthy people and waiting 3 minutes to cook ramen, my dream is to Travel the World in search for the Shrines"

'Hmm...I thought he wanted to be the Hokage and what is the spirits of the wild' Kakashi thought "Next Pinkie"

Sakura was irritated by this nickname but still continued

"I'm Haruno Sakura. I like a boy (hehehehe) my dream is (hehehehe) I dislike NARUTO!" she glared at Naruto and continued "my hobby is..."

Kakashi sighed and cut her off "Next Blue shirt"

"I'm Uchiha Sasuke I like a few things and dislike many things. I have an ambition to kill a certain man who ruined my life."

"Ok then, Meet me at training ground 3 at 10 in the morning and don't eat breakfast, I will conduct your Genin test"

"WA-wait! Didn't we just give our Test" Sakura asked

"Yeah... That is just a selection test not a Genin test. JA NA!" with that he disappeared.

"Sooo...you guys wanna have lunch" Naruto asked

"Humph. I'm busy" Sasuke answered and left,

"NO WAY!"Sakura shouted and left after Sasuke,

'Guess it's just me!' Naruto thought 'Ramen sounds good…HEHEHE'

The Next Day, at training ground 3 all three members of Team 7 were waiting for their sensei,

"It's been almost 3 hours, WHERE THE HELL IS HE! SHANAROOO!" Sakura was now getting irritated along with Sasuke, but Naruto was meditating peacefully,

"What are you doing Dobe?" Sasuke asked seeing as Naruto was the only one comfortable,

"Meditating, It relaxes you and brings energy, you should try it, it'll bring your stress down" Naruto replied whilst his eyes closed.

"I don't have Stress, You Dolt" Sasuke told him off

"YEAH! NARUTO SHUT UP!" Sakura also told him off

"OK, Sakura you should try it, it'll calm you down" Naruto told to Sakura

"WAHT DID YOU SAY!" Sakura was now pissed and aimed her fist at Naruto but Naruto's quick reflexes saved him

A poof was heard "Sorry I'm late. You see a black cat crossed my path so i had to take the long way"

The whole team sweat dropped "anyway lest start the exams" he took out two bells from his pouch and pointed at the team

"Retrieve the two bell from me," He said

"But Sensei, There are only two bells" Sakura replied

Kakashi just eye smiled and said "Yep...who fails to steal the bell goes back to the academy and come with an intent to kill me."

The whole team was shocked.  
"So Now...BEGIN!"

All the members hid themselves,

"Good so everyone is well hidden" Kakashi put his hands in his pouch and everyone wondered what he's gonna take out and to their surprise he took a book and starred giggling like a school girl.

Sasuke took this opportunity and went Offensive, But Kakashi easily blocked it and they started to fight, Kakashi was blocking all of sasuke's moves, this frustrated Sasuke and he did hand seals, Kakashi saw this and became prepared

"KATON GOKYAKU NO JUTSU"

"Whoa, a Genin doing a fireball jutsu," Kakashi did a replacement technique and dodged it, Kakashi came from behind to attack Sasuke when Naruto interrupted Kakashi, Sasuke saw this and Barked at Naruto

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!? I DONT NEED YOUR HELP!"

"You are my ally, I'm helping you"

"I SAID I DONT NEED YOUR HELP! I AM AN UCHIHA!"

"I doesn't matter, you need help and I am your teammate no matter what you say I am helping you" Naruto replied

"Fine whatever!" Sasuke said and suddenly a punch sent Naruto back to the forest, and two hands appeared from the ground and pulled Sasuke in to the ground

"HEADHUNTER NO JUTSU" with that that Kakashi left to find Sakura,

Sakura was very easy to defeat, just a simple genjutsu sent sakura unconscious, Kakashi was now searching for Naruto, what he failed to notice was a shadow dragging sakura away and the same shadow dug Sasuke out of the hole and dragged him too.

Kakashi finally found Naruto hiding behind a tree, Naruto saw Kakashi and suddenly ran away, with Kakashi on his back, He finally stopped the middle of the field, Naruto took out his Bo staff and took a stance,

"Oh! You know Bojutsu" Kakashi said "Interesting"

With that the rushed forward to fight, with Naruto mostly dodging all of Kakashi's moves,

"You seem to be very keen on dodging Naruto "Kakashi said

"Of course, I can't allow you to hit me" Naruto's answer raised Kakashi's eyebrow

"..Since I am just a decoy and a shadow-clone" He said and poofed which surprised Kakashi.

Suddenly Kakashi was surrounded by His team, the all grinned and attacked at the same time, they managed to hold their own and somehow Naruto got the bells,

'RING' 'RING'

"Times up and you got no be..." Kakashi noticed the bells missing and saw Naruto had both the bells, and eye smiled

"Ok you got the bell, but who will you give them to, Remember one will fail." Kakashi said

Both Sasuke and Sakura looked at Naruto wondering what he will do, Suddenly He threw a bell at Sasuke, Sakura was depressed but she knew out of two of them Sasuke was stronger so of course Naruto chose him, At the same time Kakashi was about to fail Them when suddenly Naruto threw the other bell at Sakura, Everyone was Shocked at this,

"Na-Naruto? Wh-why? Don't you want to be a ninja?" Sakura shocked

"I can be a ninja next time, Helping my team-mates comes first." He just smiled

"B-BUT" Sakura couldn't believe what Naruto was Saying,

"It's OK Sakura, I don't Regret my choice."

Kakashi just smiled and wanted to see what will happen next,

"Ok the Naruto, you may lea..." Kakashi was interrupted by Sakura,

"Wait sensei! I don't deserve this, Naruto can have it"

"Sakura, Don't worry, I am Ok" Naruto tried to convince her

"But I am not you were the one who gathered us and told your plan, I just followed it, you deserve it more than us" sakura told

Kakashi was happy with what he was hearing

"Sensei..," Sasuke spoke up "It is unfair that one of us has to fail, when all three of us worked hard to steal the bell, if one of s fail then all of us fail,"

Both Naruto and Sakura was Shocked, but Kakashi just smiled and said

"Don't Worry, All of you pass."

"WHAT!"

"The bell test was fake the real test was teamwork and you guys passed with flying colors" Kakashi smiled "Meet me at the Hokage tower Tomorrow to begin Your Mission as Ninjas" and he poofed.

They all smiled and Naruto asked them if they wanted to go for lunch, unlike last time they agreed, and Thus Begins a New Chapter of Team 7.

* * *

-X-X-

 _ **A/N: Ok guy the first few chapters will be almost same as the story of the manga/anime, my story line will start just after Sasuke retrieval arc. That's when the real story begins. Please leave a review and if i made a mistake somewhere, point it out i want to learn so that i can avoid it next time.**_

 _ **Thanks for reading.**_


	3. Chapter 3

**Naruto** : **Search of the Spirit Shrines**

 **A/n: I am no going into detailed fight scenes for all the canon fights. So most of the fights will be in a summary kind. The plot here are almost similar to that of the canon, but this just to bring out Naruto's character. Also Sasuke, and Sakura Starts working with Naruto like a team. And sakura is not a fan girl any more.**

 **Chapter 3: Wave and the new shrine**

* * *

It's been 3 months since the newly formed team 7 began doing their missions, all they got were D rank missions. By now the team began feeling that they were not being used to their fullest potential.

Now team 7 had just returned from their latest D rank mission, retrieving the cat of the Fire Daimyo's Wife's cat, Tora.

"Ok, Team 7… we got a new mission for you, 1. Plowing the fields, walking the inuzuka dogs or cleaning the lake." Iruka said,

"I HAD ENOUGH OF THIS! I am not going to do anymore of these stupid missions." Naruto was now irritated "GIVE US SOMETHING BETTER!"

"Yeah, even I am agreeing with the idiot over here. These missions are a waste of time." Sasuke said,

"I agree with Sasuke" Sakura chimed,

"Now listen here you guys, you're all genins fresh off the academy so you'll probably get only D ranked missions so… SHUT UP AND DO YOUR MISSIONS!" Iruka replied

They just grumbled and kept quiet, the Hokage then came to the rescue of team 7,

"Calm down, I think I have the perfect mission for you guys," The Hokage told them

"It is a C rank mission," He then turned to Iruka "Bring in the bridge Builder"

A little later, a grey-haired, bespectacled man with a large beard and dark eyes came in. He wore a sleeveless V-neck shirt with an obi, pants and a pair of sandals. He also carried a towel around his neck and wore a pointed hat on his head.

"Huh! What's this? You're letting kids protect me?" He said "I am Tazuna! The great bridge builder."

"Don't worry Tazuna-san I'm sure these kids can perfectly protect you. Besides there is a Jonin among them. I'm sure you will be fine." The Hokage replied

"Eh… Whatever!" he said and left.

"Ok team, gather your equipment and supplies and meet me at the gate at noon." Kakashi told his team.

The all nodded and left.

Later at the gate.

"Ok you guys ready?" Kakashi asked and he got a chorus of Yes.

They took off from Konoha, It was quite a lovely day and very peaceful. They all walked past a puddle of water. When the team were far enough two figure came out of the puddle. The team was doing fine so far then suddenly Kakashi got wrapped in chains and suddenly torn apart. The saw two ninja's their faces covered in masks,

"Give us the bridge builder or suffer the same fate as your sensei." One of the said.

"No thanks!" Naruto said and leaped along with Sasuke while Sakura was left behind to protect the bridge builder. Naruto took out his Hanbo from his sash and attack one of the attackers while Sasuke attacked the other. Although they were trying their best the assassins were better and overpowered them and rushed at Tazuna, Sakura took out her kunai and prepared for the attack to come but suddenly the two attackers were caught in a headlock by Kakashi.

"Kakashi sensei!" Sakura was relieved that their sensei was not dead after all.

"Good job all three of you! You stuck to the mission to protect Tazuna-san even when you knew they were stronger than you." Kakashi smiled at them.

"Now Tazuna-san, mind telling me why two B ranked missing Nins are after you? I thought this was just a C rank mission?" Kakashi started to interrogate the man.

Tazuna cowered and spilled everything of how they were poor and Gato took over their land and started ruling over them and that the bridge is their only hope to be free.

"Ok, but I don't think I can put my team in any risk. I'm afraid that I will have to withdraw" Kakashi said,

Tazuna was now depressed, but he knew risking these children's life was something no teacher would ever want to do,

"Whoa! Hold on a minute! Withdraw?" Naruto suddenly interrupted "Kakashi sensei, we are not going to withdraw from this mission,"

"Naruto this mission just became more dangerous" Kakashi replied

"It doesn't matter, he came to us for help and I am not leaving until I help him out." Naruto replied.

"He's right Kakashi sensei. We are going to do this mission" Sasuke voiced himself

"I'm on board as well" Sakura smiled,"

"*sigh* well if everyone is on board then I guess I have no choice but to carry on" Kakashi said "you're lucky these kids came with you Tazuna san or else you would have been on your own."

"Thank you" Tazuna bowed before them,  
"No need old man, I'm happy to help." Naruto replied.

As they journeyed they were almost near the village when suddenly Kakashi shouted

"Everyone duck!" and a giant cleaver swished right above them.

They all stared at the figure standing on top of the cleaver.

"Momochi Zabuza…Demon of the mist" Kakashi said "Fancy meeting you here"

"Well if it isn't Kakashi of the Sharingan" Momochi Zabuza replied "Hand over the old man or die"

"I think I'll take the third option" Kakashi turned back to the genins "Protect Tazuna"

"Kirigakure no jutsu" suddenly the area started becoming all misty and their eyesight were blinded.

"Careful guys, Zabuza is a master of silent killing." Kakashi warned

"So who shall I kill first?" Zabuza's voice echoed through the mist,

The three Genin surrounded Tazuna to protect him, when suddenly Zabuza appeared behind Naruto,

"I'll start with you" with that he sliced Naruto into half,

"NARUTO!" everyone was shocked when suddenly the Naruto that was sliced poofed away and the real Naruto hit Zabuza from behind. Zabuza fell forward and that's when Kakashi started attacking him, the fought each other on an equal grounds but suddenly Zabuza laughed

"Your luck just ran out" Zabuza quickly made hand signs while Kakashi was confused, but he realized what Zabuza meant but it was too late.

"Suiro no Jutsu" Kakashi found himself trapped inside a water prison.

"Mizu bushin no jutsu" Zabuza created 3 clones of himself and sent them after the genins.

"Run Everyone" Kakashi shouted, "you're no match for him"

"I am not leaving any of my teammates alone." Naruto shouted "Sakura take care of Tazuna! Sasuke let's go!"

Sasuke and Sakura just nodded, Naruto and Sasuke rushed forward to attack the clone of Zabuza, Naruto combined both his Hanbo and made it a staff, and Sasuke used fireball technique and attacked Zabuza. Zabuza just laughed,

"Is this the best you got?" He mocked "You can't defeat me. My hands were already soaked in blood when I was your age. They don't call me The Demon of the mist for nothing" He laughed,

Naruto just smirked "We know",

Suddenly two hand came from under the water and pulled Zabuza inside the water, this disrupted Zabuza's concentration and Kakashi was free, Zabuza was pissed off and swung his sword at Naruto when it just poofed out of existence,

"You really think I'll go near you when you can slice me into halves." Naruto laughed,

Kakashi removed his forehead protector and his Sharingan was visible, Sasuke was Shocked while Naruto and Sakura was just plain Confused by the eye,

"Oh, how lucky! I get to see the Sharingan." Zabuza mocked,

"You won't be in a minute" Kakashi replied,

"What's the Sharingan? " Naruto asked,

"It is the Dojutsu, a kekei genkai of the Uchiha Clan, it is one of the most powerful Dojutsu in the world" Sasuke said while looking at Kakashi still shocked,

"But Kakashi sensei is not Uchiha, so how does he have it?" Sakura asked,

"I don't know…" Sasuke replied and thought 'How does he have it?'

Suddenly the match between Zabuza and Kakashi seemed one sided, Kakashi was dominating the field and Zabuza was freaking out when suddenly Zabuza was pierced with Senbons and he fell down, A missing Nin came and picked up the body saying that he was after Zabuza and thanks to them he was caught and took him away, Kakashi was tired and just fell unconscious, Naruto and the others carried him to Tazuna's home as it was not that far.

The next day, Kakashi gathered his team in the woods,

"Listen up, I still believe Zabuza is alive and will come after us so I am gonna train you for the whole week," Kakashi said to them and they were excited "You are all gonna start with tree climbing exercise," They all now looked confused

"Could you explain a bit more?" Naruto asked,

"Why don't I just show you?" Kakashi eye smiled, and climbed the tree with his feet, and the genins were all surprised and excited.

"Just add chakra to your feet and climb, too much and you will be blown back and if too little you will slip and fall down. Use your kunai to mark down your height"

With that they all started practicing, the next day they performed the same routine, Sakura was the first to get it down and then Sasuke.

"Naruto, Lets go, its time" Kakashi told him

"Go ahead I'll come when I finish with this, I almost got it!" Naruto shouted from the tree.

With that they left Naruto all alone, it was getting Dark but after an hour Naruto finally did it, while going back Naruto saw a light emitting from the forest, he followed the light and found himself lost and the light gone, It was back when he found the bear shrine,

'Is there a shrine in this place?' He thought to himself,

Later at the house, while they were having dinner, Naruto asked,

"Umm…Tazuna san, is there any shrine around here?"

"Shrine? No there is none here." Tazuna replied feeling confused, "why do you ask?"

"Oh! No…it's nothing" Naruto rubbed his head,

"Shrine? Naruto isn't it your dream to find the all Shrines in the world?" Sakura asked,

"Yea, it seems like an odd dream for a ninja." Sasuke said "what are these Shrines any way,"

"These Shrine belong to the spirits of the wild, and they are said to have destroyed the demons and protect the world from them." Naruto said,

"OK, but it may just be a legend…I mean no one has ever heard of them" Sakura said,

"Besides why are you chasing after them?" Sasuke asked,

"I want answers," Naruto said,

"Answers?"

"Yea, if they protect us from the demon then How did the Kyuubi attack our village" Naruto said seriously, and Kakashi and the others were surprised,

The door opened and a little boy came into the room, he saw the ninjas and sneered at them,

"Who are they?" He asked

"They are the ninjas here to protect us and your grandfather." Tsunami said,

"Well, then they are just idiots, who will die." Inari said

"Don't worry about us, we are ninjas we won't die" Naruto laughed,

"Who said I'm worried, why did you even come here! People like you who don't know anything about pain should not interfere with ours" Inari shouted,

"So you want us to leave?" Naruto asked

"YES! ARE YOU STUPID"Inari said,

"We are not here to please you brat!" Sakura was now angry

"Sakura's right, we have mission and it does not involve a crybaby like you." Sasuke said,

"Besides kid, if your mom, grandfather and the rest of the village die, it will be your fault and everyone will start blaming you, do you want that?" Naruto asked

"Whaa..."

"You told us to leave so if we leave and they come for your mom tomorrow who's gonna protect her, you?" Naruto laughed "You are just a crybaby blaming the world for your lack of power. We are ninjas, so if you want to be useful then stop blaming the world of your problems."

"Sh-Shut up!" Inari just ran up to his room.

"Do you think we were a little hard on him?" Naruto asked,

"Maybe, I mean he was just a kid" Sakura said,

"Tsunami san, May I go check on him?" Naruto asked,

"Go ahead Naruto Kun," Tsunami smiled and Naruto left,

"He's a kind boy" Tsunami said, "Must have a lovely parents"

"Actually, he is an orphan who has had a very hard life" Kakashi said sadly,

"What?" Tsunami was surprised,

"Yeah, the villagers never treat him nicely and hate him, but never the less he never gets angry at the and always tries to help them" Kakashi said,

"Yeah, back at the academy too, he always gets bullied and when people asks him why he does not do anything about it he says "I doesn't matter they are my allies"." Sakura said

"Yeah I remember that, always trying to help others." Sasuke said,

With Inari and Naruto, Inari was looking at the sea, when Naruto came in

"Mind if I join you?" Naruto said

Inari just kept quiet.

"We didn't mean to be that harsh on you back there you know" Naruto said and when he got no reply he continued, "Our village was attacked by a demon, you know," This got Inari's attention, "and many people died so when you said we don't know anything about pain we got a little angry, Sakura's dad got killed and Sasuke's whole clan was wiped out by his own brother, and even I have had a hard life so we became strong, and determine to be what we want, everyone will have a hard time at least once in their life, it's just how you handle it that makes you strong, now you took your life and blamed on the world, but if you just take that pain and gain the will to protect you will be strong, Don't be a coward Inari, be brave." Naruto explained and left inari alone.

The next day, Naruto overslept and the team left with Tazuna,

"They could have at least woken me up…" Naruto grumbled

He heard a crash from the Kitchen and inari's voice

"LEAVE MY MOM ALONE!" Inari screamed,

Naruto sneaked down stairs to see Tsunami being held by two thugs, they were laughing at inari, and he created a shadow clone and revealed himself,

"Leave the lady alone," He said,

They laughed "What if we don't? What is kid like you gonna do?"

"I'm not just a kid…" Naruto said,

Suddenly the clone of Naruto snuck up on them from behind and hit one of the thugs on the head and made him unconscious, the other one was shocked and quickly slashed the clone and when it poofed he was more confused,

"I'm also a ninja" Naruto jumped and hit the other one and tied both the thugs with ninja wires.

"I'm gonna now" He turned to inari and Tsunami "Good job on being brave Inari." He smiled and ruffled Inari's hair.

When Naruto reached the bridge he saw Kakashi fighting Zabuza and Sasuke trapped in a dome, he threw a kunai with exploding tag at the dome, the dome blasted but it was not harmed, Sakura was relieved to see Naruto,

Sasuke looked and saw Naruto outside the dome, Sasuke and Naruto fought Haku from both inside and outside, Sasuke had awakened the Sharingan, Haku was having a hard time with both of them, so he decided that he needed to finish Sasuke fast. He attacked Sasuke with a tons of senbon Naruto saw this and rushed inside to save him but it was too late, Sasuke was full of senbon,

"Na-Naruto, I gu-guess my time is do-done," he coughed "My Br-Brother is St-still out th-there, My dream is…" Sasuke's eyes closed,

Naruto was very angry, never had he ever lost a comrade before, and red energy started leaking out of him,

"Pity he had to die" Haku said "I usually hate killing but Zabuza's Life is more important."

This drove Naruto to the edge and the red energy just exploded, He looked at Haku, His hair became wild, eyes were red, and his whiskers became deeper and darker. The air around them became tense, Haku became nervous and quickly threw senbon at him, as the senbon was about to reached Naruto just roared and the projectile bounced back, Haku jumped from one mirror to another but wasn't fast enough as Naruto came before him punched him so hard that Haku's body broke through the mirrors, Haku felt dizzy and before he could get up Naruto was already upon him, He punched him and sent him flying,

With Kakashi and Zabuza, Kakashi was having a hard time concentrating ever since he felt the Kyuubi chakra, Kakashi lost focus and saw Zabuza about to cleave him in to two when something hit Zabuza,

Zabuza saw what hit him and saw that it was Haku, he had never seen Haku this beaten up. Naruto appeared next to Kakashi with the Kyuubi's chakra surrounding him making him look like a fox. Naruto was about to rush at Zabuza when Kakashi caught his arm,

"Naruto, Stand down!" Kakashi said,

Naruto just looked at him with his red eyes and pulled his hands back to punch him when something snapped inside him, his eyes widened the realization hit him, he was about to attack his allies. He slowly transformed back to his normal form and dropped on his knees.

"You OK?" Kakashi was worried,

"Yeah, just tired." Naruto looked up to Kakashi "what was that?"

"I'll explain later, we have company." Kakashi said

Clapping was heard from within the mist, Zabuza dispatched the mist and saw Gato smirking with 100 bandits behind him.

"Zabuza, you still couldn't defeat him" Gato laughed "I guess I'll have to get rid of you."

Zabuza slowly stood up "I dare you to try, shrimp." He turned back towards Kakashi

"I guess I am not fight you anymore," Kakashi nodded "You, Kid with the orange kimono shirt," Naruto looked up, "I know Haku is your enemy but look after him for a while" Naruto just nodded.

"Wanna lend me a hand Kakashi." Zabuza asked.

"Sure, they are the main threat to Tazuna anyway."

"GET THEM!" Gato screamed. And 50 thugs rushed forward, while the rest 50 stayed with Gato, Zabuza and Kakashi were slowly dispatching all of the thugs and soon finished with the 50 that attacked, Gato was now nervous and he became more nervous when an arrow struck right next to his feet, he looked up to see the Wave villagers standing there with weapons and got scared,

"GATO, GO AWAY FROM THIS PLACE OR ELES WE WILL ATTACK YOU AND KILL YOU" This voice belonged to a kid, Inari's to be specific.

Gato was white as a sheet, and just turned and ran along with his thugs.

'I guess we'll be going as well." Zabuza picked up Haku and was ready to leave, when Kakashi spoke,

"You know you could come to Konoha with us."

"What?"

"Become a ninja of our village." Kakashi said

"Do you really think any village will take in a missing Nin?" Zabuza scoffed

"Well no, but ever since the Kyuubi attack, Konoha has been lacking Strong Jonins and beside we lack Swordsman in our village, I'm sure the Hokage will pull some strings."

"If your Hokage agrees then I'm in" Contact me in this place, Zabuza game Kakashi the location of his hideout, as he was about to leave Haku spoke,

"Your friend is not dead" Naruto quickly looked up,

"What?"

"Your friend is just unconscious." Haku said and left,

Naruto ran toward Sasuke and saw Sakura helping him up, and sighed in relief,

"Man, you really scared me." Naruto said,

"Whatever" Sasuke said,

Naruto just smiled along with Sakura.

The next day Naruto asked Kakashi that he wanted to explore the area for the Shrine, to which he agreed seeing that Gato was no longer a threat, Sasuke and Sakura went with Tazuna to help build the bridge and Kakashi wrote a letter to the Hokage about Zabuza's Situation.

Naruto wandered around the forest in the wave but found nothing, But he was not about to give up, as he wandered more he found a secret entrance on a tree, he entered and followed, after about half an hour he came to an opening, up ahead he saw stairways about thousand, he walked and walked and finally managed to reach the top, and what he saw was rewarding,

He has finally found the next shrine, he saw statues of birds and a large statue of what looked like an eagle, he went closer and saw the inscriptions on it, it read:

 _The Eagle_

 _A proud and fearless creature,_

 _The kings of the Skies,_

 _The Natural Leader,_

"Wow! So cool" He was smiling like never before, He then looked around for scrolls, and found what he was looking for, he opened the scroll and it read:

 _The spirit of eagle is Proud and fearless. They are natural born leaders and the kings of the sky. The Eagle attacked demons from the sky and demons that were on the sky. The Spirit of Eagle possessed endless vitality._

"That's all" Naruto sighed, but his mood changed again "No mater, this just proves there are more spirits and I will find them all and find out what happened to them."

Naruto went back to Tazuna's home, by the time he reached his team was having dinner,

"Naruto, where the hell were you!" Sakura asked, she failed to notice the beaming smile on his face which did not go unnoticed by Sasuke,

"What's with you face?" Sasuke asked

"Why do you think?" Naruto's smile grew even more,

Sasuke and Sakura were now confused, until Kakashi spoke,

"You found a Shrine?" Kakashi asked, and Sakura and Sasuke's eyes widened and they looked at Naruto,

"Yep!" Now everyone's attention was on Naruto, Team 7 Inari, Tsunami and Tazuna.

"High on the mountain where no one can reach, the eagle soars the skies, Fearless and Proud," Naruto said which just confused everyone save Kakashi,

"So an eagle Shrine?" he asked, "Never heard of these shrine before… who told you about these shrine?" Kakashi asked and everyone looked at Naruto,

"No one." He just smiled "I found one of the shrine in the forest of Konoha, The bear Shrine"

"In Konoha?" everyone was surprised,

"Yep good night" with that he left.

That night when they everyone was asleep, Naruto went to Kakashi, he woke Kakashi up and had a serious look in his face, Kakashi as surprised by this,

"Hey, what's up, why'd you wake me?" Kakashi asked,

"I wanted to ask you about what happened to me in the bridge?" Naruto asked, Kakashi sighed he knew this was coming,

"Alright, You already know about the kyuubi being sealed in you right," Naruto nodded "Well, at the bridge you used some of its power," Kakashi explained briefly,

"It was the Kyuubi's power," Naruto looked at his hands, "It was so hateful and angry but at the same time so powerful."

"Well that's the Kyuubi for you. So what will you do now that you know you can use its power?" Kakashi asked seriously, Naruto looked at Kakashi dead in the eye and said,

"I am never using its power, I couldn't even the difference between friends and foes, it might be a strong and powerful but it is also dangerous, what if I lose control and destroy everything." Naruto just got up and left.

The week went fast and the Bridge was built, Kakashi got a letter from the Hokage which said Zabuza can come to the village,

Now, at the entrance of Konoha stood 6 figures, team 7 and Zabuza and Haku.

-X-X-X-

* * *

 **This is it. I know this chapter was pretty long but I wanted to finish wave as soon as possible.**

 **Thanks for reading.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Naruto** : **Search of the Spirit Shrines**

Chapter 4: Chunnin exam.

Team 7 are heading towards the academy, accompanying them was Haku,

"Good luck on the exam" Haku told them,

"Thanks," Sakura said to him,

"I really wished you were participating as well," Naruto said,

"Yeah, being a missing Nin, I have go through the probation period, 5 more months and I can be a Genin" Haku smiled,

"We're getting late, hurry up you two." Sasuke was already at the gates,

"See ya" Naruto and Sakura waved at Haku and entered the Academy, at the second floor of the academy a crowd of students were gathered, Naruto asked one of them why they were gathered there,

"Two Chunnin are not letting us through." One of them replied,

Naruto just looked at his team, and they just nodded and left,

"If they don't see through a genjutsu then they don't deserve to take part in it." Sasuke said

"It was pretty obvious." Sakura replied,

While they were on the stairs to the third floor, a blur zoomed past them, and stood at the top of the stairs, A boy in a green jumpsuit and thick eyebrows stood there, he pointed at Sasuke,

"Uchiha Sasuke, I challenge you to a duel"

"Hmm… Why" Sasuke replied,

"I want to test my powers against an Uchiha, will you accept my challenge!"

Sasuke turned to his teammates, and they just shrugged,

"Fine, come on I'll show you the power of an Uchiha."

Both of them made their way to the hall and faced each other, Sasuke rushed forward and aimed his fist at lee but lee suddenly vanished, and kicked Sasuke's jaw from under, Sasuke was thrown off balance, he saw lee coming towards him and took a defensive stance, but lee broke through his defense,

Sasuke was agitated, he couldn't figure out how lee was breaking his defense. He activated his Sharingan and rushed again and hoping he could figure out how he was doing his trick, but the results were the same. Sasuke suddenly found himself in the air and lee under him with his bandage freely flowing. Lee was going for the finisher but something caught lee's bandage. A turtle appeared and lee looked scared and went to the turtle,

Sasuke was helped by his teammates, he was still shocked that he got defeated,

"What the hell happened?" Sakura said out loud

"What kind of Ninjutsu or genjutsu did that guy use?" Sasuke was still confused

"None, he just used taijutsu," Naruto's reply made Sasuke and Sakura look at him,

"Didn't you notice Sasuke, his speed," Sasuke nodded "Your Sharingan may be able to see him coming but your body isn't fast enough to react to his speed" Naruto explained,

They saw Lee getting scolded by the turtle and a man showed up, he was talking to lee when suddenly he punched him, team 7 was confused and Surprised, then things just became gross when they saw both of them hugging and crying. They sighed and left with only one thought 'Sasuke lost to this guy?'

They made it in time at the classroom and saw all of their old classmates there,

"Oh! You guys are here too!" Naruto exclaimed when he saw Shikamaru and Choji,

"Well, it's troublesome but Asuma sensei mad us take the exams" Shikamaru complained,

"OH! SASUKE KUN" Ino lunged at Sasuke while Sakura was blithering her.

"Oh! I can't believe you're here" Someone said from behind,

They saw team 8 showing up,

"Oh, it seems all of the Konoha rookies are taking part," Naruto said,

"You guys should keep it down," a boy older than them said, "You guys are making the crowd"

"Who the hell are you?" Ino spoke,

"I am Kabuto Yakushi, this is my forth time taking this exam," He smiled

"Man, you must suck a lot." Kiba said,

"Or this exams are really hard" Sakura said,

"Yea, but I managed to get info on everyone, do you wanna know anything?" He asked,

"Yeah, I want to know about Rock Lee and Gaara" Sasuke said,

"Ok, Rock lee" He searched through the cards "Here you go! Rock lee from Konoha, teammates are Hyuuga Neji and Tenten, their sensei Might Guy, Specializes in taijutsu, it says here that he can't mold chakra to perform ninjutsu or taijutsu." This shocked team 7 "he has done 20 D rank missions and 11 Crank missions."

He then searched and took out the info on Gaara, "Sabaku Gaara, from Sunagakure, Team leader is Baki, and Teammates are Sabaku Temari and Sabaku Kankuro, he completed 8 C rank missions and 1 B rank mission, whoa! He returned from every missions unharmed," The rookies were all surprised,

"Whoa, a genins doing B rank missions and returning unharmed" Shikamaru was surprised,

"I guess there are a lot of strong people here," Choji said getting nervous, team 8 was also getting nervous, Naruto notice their nervousness, and turned toward the crowd of people, he sucked in a lot of air and then shouted,

"I AM UZUMAKI NARUTO, AND I'M NOT GONNA LOSE TO ANYONE OF YOU! GOT THAT!"

All the rookies stared at him like he was an idiot, he just turned and smiled at them, all the contestants were now staring at him while Ino was complaining to sakura about how big of an idiot Naruto was, Sasuke just sighed and stood next to Naruto,

"What the hell are you looking at, if you want a piece of us get ready to be beaten up,"

Naruto just smiled at Sasuke,

Sakura just shook her head while Ino's jaw dropped on the ground,

"Might as well, those two idiots" Sakura walked towards both of her teammate,

"Sa..ku..ra?" Ino was confused at Sakura's statement,

"We are konoha's team 7, we are not gonna lose to anyone" Sakura stood next to Naruto,

Team 8 and team 10 was surprised by team 7's bold statement as well as their Team spirit,

"ALL OF YOU TAKE YOUR SEAT NOW IF YOU DON'T WANT TO BE DISQUALIFIED," A man with bandana poofed in the classroom, "I am Morino Ibiki, your proctor for the first exam,"

"Now the rules of this exam, Listen carefully, I will not repeat them nor will I take any questions," he said "First, You will be awarded 10 points from the beginning, there are 10 questions and each questions are 1 point each, wrong answers will deduct a point. Second rule, your passing and failing will depend on your team's total point," Hearing this everyone was surprised, "Rule 3, the proctors here will be checking on you all the time, if you cheat, 2 points will be deducted and when you cheat 5 time you will be out of here, also if anyone in your team gets zero, you will fail. The test is of 1 hour the tenth question will be given when forty five minutes of the exam is over. That's all."

With that the exam started, Naruto looked at the paper and saw that the question were very tough, he would not be able to do any of them,

Sasuke couldn't do any of the questions, he looked around and saw some of the genins using their skills to cheat, and then he got what the test is about,

Sakura was always the smart one, she found the test easy to solve,

Naruto, took some time but he managed to figure out the motive behind the test, he looked around and saw various ninjas cheating, some that were cheating carelessly were thrown out and some that were cheating carefully using tricks and skills were succeeding, now Naruto didn't have any means to cheat so he just sat there and waited for the test to be over.

45 minutes later, Ibiki told everyone in the room to stop writing,

"Now, before I give the final question, there is a special rule, you may choose to whether you want to give this question or not, if you do not wish to give then you may leave this exam."

"What! If that's the case then would anyone want to leave?" Temari said,

"Because, if you fail to solve this question you will automatically fail as well as never be able to give anymore Chunnin exams."

"What! But the Genins who failed the last exams are here too." Kiba shouted,

"Well, Today's just not your lucky day, because I'm the proctor and I make the rules." Ibiki said "with that said no more questions, those who want to leave to give their exams anther day may leave."

Slowly the genins started leaving, Sakura was nervous, not for herself, she knew she could solve it but she was worried for Naruto, what if Naruto messes up, She wanted to save their team from the fate of never having to give the test again and was about to raise her hand, but then she saw Naruto staring at her with a smile, and with his thumbs sticking out, seeing this sakura realized she was being stupid and she should trust her teammates more, she just nodded at Naruto and smiled.

"Alright, I guess this is it." Ibiki smiled, "Alright, since you won't leave I guess there is only one thing to say."

Everyone became nervous,

"You all pass the exams,"

"WHAT!?" almost everyone in the room shouted,

"Wait a minute, what about the last question?" Sakura asked,

"There is no last question, it was a two choice questions, I am going to explain what this was about." With that he explained about the test, when suddenly a black ball crashed through the window, the ball spread and there was a banner

 _ **Proctor for the second exam,**_

 _ **The one and only Mitarashi Anko.**_

"ALRIGHT YOU BRATS! TIME FOR THE SECOND EXAM, LET'S GO!" Anko shouted,

Then she heard Ibiki from behind the banner,

"Read the environment" She then saw all the Genins were staring at her,

She then became embarrassed, and counted all the genins, there were 21 teams present,

"21 teams? Really Ibiki? You're getting soft." Anko said,

"Well, this year's batch had some strong ones."

"It doesn't matter by the time I'm done there will only half of them standing." She smirked with an evil glint that made every one nervous,

"Alright everyone, meet me at the training ground forty four, in fifteen minutes late comers will be disqualified," she said and disappeared.

Later at the training ground 44

All the genins were waiting for the instructions, they were casually chatting there,

"Alright everyone, I am gonna explain the rules now." Anko said "for this exam half of the teams will get the Heaven scroll and the other half will get Earth scroll, your objective is to obtain both scrolls and head to the tower at the center of the forest, you have three days to complete you task."

She handed them the scroll and told them to sign a paper that says that Konoha is not responsible for what happens in the forest. And with that the second exam begins.

Team 7, were doing great, they were ambushed a group of Ame Nins, and got both of the scrolls early, the only thing left to do was move towards the tower, they were moving as fast as they could when a strong gust of wind came flowing past them, Sasuke and Sakura barely had enough time to push chakra into their feet and remain there, but Naruto was not so lucky, he was blown away from the group.

With Naruto, Naruto crashed between trees, he managed to escape between the rubbles, and he had finally made it out when he saw a giant snake staring at him,

"OH, COME ON! WHY ME!" and he jumped to dodge the snake's attack, he started to outrun the snake but the snake was as fast as him if not faster, getting annoyed he stopped and jumped to attack the snake, the snake just opened its mouth and swallowed him,

"What! You got to be kidding meeeeee!" Naruto shouted as he entered the Snake's Stomach,

At the same time with Sasuke and Sakura, they were facing off against a grass kunoichi, both of they were no match for her, it seemed like the kunoichi was toying with them, they noticed that the kunoichi's main target was Sasuke,

"Sakura you need to escape and find Naruto, her main target is me," Sasuke said while they were hiding,

"What no! You really think you can take him own your own," Sakura replied,

"Of course not, but if Naruto gets here we might be able to take her down,"

"Are you kidding me, even with the three of us we are no match for her," Sakura said,

"Then what do w…" He couldn't finish his sentence as a fist came towards them, he grabbed Sakura and ran,

"I guess we'll have to give her our scroll," Sasuke said and Sakura nodded,

"Wait, if it's our scroll you want then you can just take it," Sasuke said,

The grass Nin just smiled and put her hand forward, Sasuke threw the Scroll when it was intercepted by someone, they all looked to see Naruto standing there with the scroll,

"What are you doing Sasuke?" Naruto said,

"Oh, you managed to avoid my snake, pretty impressive." The kunoichi said,

"That was yours? You may wanna check on it I think I gave it a stomach ache." Naruto laughed,

Naruto joined his team and the kunoichi was ready to attack again,

"We will have to outrun her, Naruto said,

"We were gonna by giving her our scroll." Sasuke said annoyed

"That wouldn't work she seems more interested in you than the scroll," Naruto said,

"How did you know?" Sakura said,

"She is still staring at Sasuke," He replied, "Ok get ready to run," Naruto said,

"What are you gonna do," Sasuke asked,

"Just get ready," Naruto said,

"Ok you want our scroll take it," with that Naruto tossed the scroll which surprised both his teammates,

"That's what I was doing, you idiot." Sasuke said,

"Wait for it" Naruto said, as the kunoichi grabbed the scroll it exploded,

"RUN!" Naruto shouted, and they made their escape, "That won't keep he down long, we need to hurry"

"That's right that won't keep me down," They turned and saw the women with her face torn like as if she was wearing a mask, she punched Sakura and sent her flying, Naruto caught her and protected her from the tree that they crashed into.

"Wh-who are you? Sasuke was now very nervous,

The kunoichi ripped off the face, and smiled

"My name is Orochimaru,"

"What do you want with me," Sasuke said,

"I just want to give you a little gift," With that his neck stretched and he bit Sasuke, Sasuke screamed and fell down unconscious.

As Naruto and Sakura reached Sasuke the grass Nin was already gone. Naruto picked up Sasuke,

"We better hurry to the tower, it's not safe here anymore." Naruto said "And with Sasuke unconscious we may get more trouble than we expect." Sakura agreed with Naruto and ran for the tower.

They reached the tower after some intense running and there were sound Nins chasing them but managed to lose them and get to the tower safely.

They met Kakashi in the tower, and explained what happened. Kakashi told them to rest and take it easy and he was going to take care of Sasuke.

Three days later, at the tower, only seven teams made it, there were five Konoha teams, one Suna team and one sound team. All the teams were gathered at the center of the tower, by now Sasuke had the curse seal checked and Kakashi had sealed it.

"Ok everyone, there is too much Genins here to participate in the finals, so we are going to hold a preliminary round," the Hokage said, he was going to continue when Gekko Hayate interrupted him,

"I think I'll take it from here, Hokage sama." The Hokage nodded and went to stand at the balcony,

"Ok everyone, I am Gekko Hayate and this is the Chunnin preliminary round, winner will be selected for the final exams. Your names will be displayed in the board, now if you do not wish to continue you may leave the premises." Hayate said, Kabuto raised his hand,

"I don't think have enough chakra to continue," and he left, the Hokage eyed him with suspicion, and Anko told the Hokage that he dropped for the last four exams at the same stage,

"Keep an eye on him." Anko nodded,

"Ok then everyone move towards the balcony and only those whose names are displayed may come down, now move it." Hayate spoke.

The board started to randomize names and two names came out, Akado Yoroi and Uchiha Sasuke.

 _ **[A/n: the winners of the preliminary are same as the cannon, so I am not going to write about it. Sorry**_ _ **]**_

"Ok all the winners please come down and pick a piece from the box." Everyone picked a piece and found a number.

"Ok now that you have your numbers these is the Final tournament's chart and your opponents."

 _ **[A/n: again the same as the cannon.]**_

"You all have one month to train. Good luck." With that everyone left.

-X-X-X-

I really want to finish the chunnin exams really fast, so sorry if I am rushing things.

Thanks for reading.


	5. Chapter 5

**Naruto: search of the spirit shrines**

 **Chapter 5: The Chunnin exam war!**

The month went by fast, before you know it the day of the finals arrived. Naruto stood there with the other contestants. They were standing at the middle of the stadium with a lot of people staring at them. Naruto was a little nervous, but shook it off.

"Alright, Naruto and Neji, stay and the rest of you leave," Genma said.

"Who are you? Where's Hayate-san?" One of the contestants asked,

"I'm the new proctor, that's all you need to know." Genma said and pointed them towards the exit.

"You don't stand a chance against me?" Neji stated,

"Well, we wouldn't know until I try," Naruto smiled,

Naruto took out his Hanbo and took his stance, Neji also took his juken stance. Genma looked at both of them and nodded,

"BEGIN!" and he jumped away.

Neji waited for Naruto to rush forward, but Naruto didn't, move at all, he was waiting for Neji to make his move. Neji leaped in the air and threw a few kunai at Naruto. Naruto dodged and charged at Neji. Neji smirked and was about to strike at Naruto who just back flipped away and threw one of his hanbo at him, Neji blocked the incoming hanbo and saw Naruto doing a familiar hand seal,

"Kage bushin on jutsu." Four Naruto pooped up next to the original.

"Byakugan!" Neji activated his Dojutsu, but he still couldn't figure out the real one,

"Looking for me" one of them said,

"Nah! He's looking for me," the other said,

"Yosh! Let's attack" and they charged at him leaving one of them behind, Neji smirked and avoided the incoming Narutos and rushed towards the one that was left behind,

"The one who does not attack is obviously the original and was about to strike him when he couldn't move, Naruto just smirked. Neji saw he was caught in ninja wires and the clones were holding on tight.

"H-how?" Naruto that was near Neji just smirked,

"You were so focused on me that you missed the wires. And by the way I am a clone" The clone punched Neji and threw him towards the other side of the stadium. Everyone in the stadium was surprised that Naruto even managed to land a hit on the Hyuuga prodigy.

Kiba just smirked at the audience's face, he still remembered how cocky he was when facing Naruto and the beating he got for underestimating him,

'Naruto is not as dumb as you think' Kiba thought,

"Kiba?" Hinata saw Kiba was in his own world,

"Hmm..."

"Are you ok?"

"Oh! Yeah, I was just thinking about my fight with Naruto," he smiled "Naruto's gonna win this." He smiled

"I hope so too." Hinata said worried,

Back at the stadium, Neji was at his feet and attacking Naruto who was using his Hanbo to block Neji's moves. Neji managed to hit a few of his tenketsu,

Naruto started to feel his chakra control going haywire, Neji saw this and smirked,

"Your fate is to lose here, just give up. You can't call upon your chakra anymore."

"Well then I just have to use try harder." Naruto focused very hard and managed to call upon his chakra and summoned 4 more clone, he smirked at Neji's face,

"You were saying," Naruto laughed

"This time I am gonna make sure you are unable to use you chakra." And Neji rushed forward, Naruto and his clones scattered, Neji was in the middle of all the Narutos, They threw kunai at him from all directions, Neji saw this and sighed

'I can't believe I am using this this early in the competition' suddenly he spun and a chakra dome and all the projectiles deflected,

"Kaiten!" Naruto was shocked, as well as all the Hyuuga that were watching,

Neji then took a different stance

"You're all in within my range," "Hakke Rokujūyon sho" with that Neji rushed with a very fast speed, he attacked all the clones and Naruto, after the attack Naruto was barely managing to stand,

In the audience, Hiashi was shocked, Neji a branch member, not only managed the Kaiten but also Hakke Rokujūyon Sho.

Hinata was worried about Naruto getting hit by that jutsu,

Naruto managed to stand,

"You may be able to stand but you won't be able to use chakra anymore, Proctor, call the match."

Genma was about to call Neji the winner but Naruto stopped him,

"Don't, I can still fight." Genma looked at Naruto,

"You can't use anymore jutsu without your chakra, you can't fight. Just give up," Neji was getting annoyed,

"A ninja doesn't always rely on his jutsu," Naruto showed his Hanbo, "I have these" Genma just smirked and left.

Neji roared and charged at Naruto but, he was hit with a Hanbo, he saw Two Narutos standing there,

"H-How?" Neji was surprised,

"I actually created six clones and hid two of them, as back up. And it seems I was right to do so." The two clones attached their Hanbo and made it a Bo staff. Both of the clones rushed with their Bo and Naruto came from above, Neji barely managed to escape, Neji was having a hard time with those clones, they barely game him enough time to counter of even use Kaiten.

"I think is time to finish this!" one of the clones said,

"Alright, let's do it." The other clone said and Naruto just nodded,

The clones suddenly came with a burst of speed, one clone did a sweep with his Bo, but Neji jumped up and the other clone immediately hit him with a lot of force on Neji's stomach and sent him flying towards the original, Naruto then rushed to the flying Neji and smashed him in the head. Neji immediately lost consciousness. Genma then came and checked on Neji,

"Winner, Uzumaki Naruto." The whole stadium was silent, then for the first time I his life the villagers stared to clap and cheer on him, this made him very happy.

"Kankuro vs. Shino, Contestants come out,"

From the top of the stands Kankuro, Shouted that he forfeit which earned him a lot of boos.

"Ok then, Winner by forfeit, Aburane Shino." He sighed, "Temari and Shikamaru, come out!"

 **[Same as cannon]**

"Winner by forfeit, Sabaku Temari!"

"Sasuke vs. Gaara"

Gaara came down but Sasuke was late and just as the proctor was about to call the match, Kakashi arrived with Sasuke,

"Sorry, are we late?" Kakashi asked,

"Just made it in time." Genma replied, "Both genins, ready"

They nodded "BEGIN!" and he leaped off.

Sasuke observed Gaara and threw kunai at him, Gaara's sand automatically came to his defence. Sasuke was smart and kept his distance, Gaara raised his hands and the sand started to chase Sasuke, Sasuke avoided all of this and ran straight up the walls of the stadium.

'Ok! I guess I'll have to do it now." He did some hand seals and put his hands in front of him, lightning started to gather around his hands and a chirping noise was heard. The jonins in the audience was shocked that Kakashi had taught a genin this jutsu. Sasuke activated his Sharingan and rushed with a burst of speed that Gaara's sand missed him. He plunged his hands forward and pierced through Gaara's shoulders. Sand started to enclose Gaara, Sasuke removed his hands and jumped a distance. Inside the ball of sand, Gaara started to laugh maniacally which made Sasuke nervous.

In the audience, feathers started to fall and the audience fell under genjutsu, the jonins and chunnins immediately dispelled them and saw sound and Sand attacking, the retaliated. On a roof of a building, the Hokage was trapped inside a barrier with Orochimaru who just smiled. Gaara was taken by his siblings, they took him and ran towards the Forest. Sasuke was told to follow them.

Sakura was able to get out of the genjutsu and she released Naruto from it. Kakashi came near them and told them to go after Sasuke and Gaara, they took Shikamaru with them and left with a small pug summoned by Kakashi. On their way they were chased by a group of Sound nins, and Shikamaru volunteered to stay behind, Naruto and Sakura managed to reach Sasuke but Sasuke couldn't move, he had the curse seal activated, Sakura took Sasuke away from Gaara which didn't go well with Gaara so he attacked Sakura but it was blocked by Naruto. Naruto created a bunch of clone and Started to attack Gaara. Gaara was getting beat up and then he did a jutsu and turned himself in to a Giant racoon cat. He covered Naruto in a sand cocoon, Sasuke tried to move but his body wouldn't move, Sakura threw a kunai with an exploding tag attached to it but before it reached it was intercepted by Gaara's sand. As the sand was about to crush Naruto, it exploded and a giant Toad appeared in its place. Sasuke and Sakura was shocked with Naruto's Jutsu. Sakura took Sasuke away from the battle that was about to happen while Sasuke had only one thought 'When did Naruto learn such a powerful jutsu.' He was starting to get jealous of him.

Naruto fought against Shukaku with the help of Gamabunta, They were getting nowhere and on top of that Gaara used the play possum jutsu and awakened the real Shukaku. Gamabunta suggested that Naruto go and wake the sand brat. So he transformed Gamabunta into a Giant bear. Gamabunta bit into Shukaku's body while Naruto, leaped high in the air and punched Gaara in the face. Gaara suddenly woke up but the giant racoon did not disappear so he swung his Hanbo at his head and this time the sand started to crack and was destroyed. Gaara did not have any energy to save himself from the fall, he closed his eyes for the coming death, but it never came. Naruto held him and save him from his fate.

"Why?" he asked,

"Because you're just like I me, for having a demon inside you. And I know how hard it is to live this way." He said,

"If you're just like me then, how are you so happy, and why protect all those people?" he asked

"Because it's my home, and there are people I care about. There may not be a lot of them, but even if there are a few of them they are people I trust with my life and I will protect them even if it will cost me my life."

Gaara was shocked with his answer, did he have people that would protect him with his life, Sasuke and sakura appeared before Gaara and Naruto with their weapons ready to strike, and Kankuro and Temari came beside Gaara ready to protect him.

"You won't win against us." Sasuke said,

"Temari, take Gaara with you, I'll cover your escape."

"Ka-Kankuro." She saw his determination and nodded, Gaara saw Kankuro was ready to cover their escape even though he knew he would lose. Gaara managed to stand up.

"Enough…Kankuro, Temari, Let's stop. Naruto we're leaving." Naruto just nodded, and lowered Sasuke and Sakura's weapon. Gaara lost his balance and fell but he was caught by Kankuro and Temari.

On their way, Gaara apologised to Kankuro and Temari, this shocked both of them. Sasuke and Sakura was about to pursue them when Naruto told them the village needs them more and so they left. By the time they reached the village the war was finished and the third Hokage had died. The ceremony of all those that had fallen was held the very next day.

-X-X-

Thanks for reading.


	6. Chapter 6

Naruto: search of the spirit shrine

Chapter 6:

It has been three months since the Sandaime died and two months since Naruto and Jiraya left and brought back Tsunade with them to become the godaime Hokage. During their journey Naruto was attacked by the Akatsuki, Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame. Sasuke heard about this and went after Itachi which did not go well for Sasuke, Itachi put Sasuke into a coma.

Sasuke and Naruto were sparring, Naruto was dominating at first, which did not go well with Sasuke and he used the Sharingan and retaliated. Although Naruto lost, Sasuke observed that Naruto was becoming stronger very fast.

"What's with you Sasuke?" Naruto asked

"Hmm… none of your concern." And with that he just left a confused Naruto and Sakura.

"Are you Ok? Sasuke was a bit serious this time." Sakura said, "Maybe I'll check on him."

"Don't I think we should let him cool down a bit first." Naruto said.

Sasuke was in his compound, still training.

"How are you getting this strong Naruto," He was talking to himself, He punched the training post in rage and destroyed it. He then heard clapping and turned to see four sound Nins. He quickly got into defensive position. They just laughed at him, which agitated him and he rushed to attack them, they easily countered him. He then called upon the curse seals power and his body started to get covered with black flame markings, he smirked and rushed, but it still wasn't enough as they had again just smacked him, he looked up and saw they had the same markings as him but they were in perfect control.

"We have a message for you from Orochimaru-sama. If you want to use his power to the fullest, meet us tomorrow at this location." And they disappeared.

The next day he saw Naruto doing his kata using his hanbo and clone, he walked up to Naruto,

"Naruto fight me."

"What? You wanna spar again?"

"No, a serious fight." Sasuke said looking serious, Naruto looked at him seriously,

"Why?" He said,

"Don't question!" and he charged at Naruto with his Sharingan fully activated, Naruto immediately blocked and his clones all charged at Sasuke, Sasuke easily dodged the clone and jumped up,

" **Katon: Gokakyu no jutsu"** he spit out the fire ball at the clones and all of them disappeared, He was still in the air but he could not locate Naruto,

"Where are you looking!?" He looked up and saw Naruto's Hanbo hit him on his chest, he crashed down, but quickly got up and threw some shurikens at Naruto, who deflected it with his Hanbo. The two rushed and continued to fight.

Sakura was still worried about Sasuke ever since the chunnin exams he started to avoid the team, when she reached the training grounds, she saw that Naruto and Sasuke was having a spar. But she noticed that it was more intense. As she came closer she saw Sasuke charging up the chidori and Naruto charging the Rasengan. That's when she realized that those two were not sparring but having a real battle. She ran towards them to stop the fight, but they had already jumped towards each other and there was no stopping.

Naruto saw that Sakura was in the path of the attack but he couldn't stop his momentum, when all of the sudden his and sasuke's hands were grabbed and both were flung towards the tree. The tree Sasuke hit was pierced through, Sasuke saw this and smiled, but it vanished when he saw Naruto's attack has smashed the tree in two. He got angry at Naruto's Power and left. Naruto saw Sasuke leaving and just sighed and left him alone. Sakura just stood there and watched them leave, and Kakashi left to have a talk with Sasuke.

Later that night, Sasuke walked towards the gates of Konoha late at night, he was about to reach when Sakura saw him and called him. He stopped, he was hoping that he would not be seen by anyone, especially not his team. He sighed and turned around, to face Sakura.

"What are you doing out this late at night?" Sakura asked,

"I could ask you the same question." Sasuke said,

"Oh…I couldn't sleep," Sakura said and then noticed the bag Sasuke was carrying, and narrowed her eyes at him,

"Are you leaving the village or something?" she asked,

"What's it to you." He said,

"What's it to me!? You're my teammate." Sakura replied,

"*sigh* yeah, I am leaving, don't bother stopping me." He turned around and started to leave but sakura caught his hands,

"I li-like you a lot Sasuke s-so pl-please don't go!" sakura pleaded, Sasuke snatched his hand back and started to walk on but Sakura appeared in front of him, "I won't let you leave, not on my watch!" Sakura said,

"And you think you can stop me? Don't make me laugh!" Sasuke said amused, Sakura smiled,

"I know I can't stop you, but I can stall you enough to call for backup." Sasuke was now annoyed, and activated his Sharingan, and put Sakura into a genjutsu and knocked her out. He placed Sakura on a bench and left.

Sasuke appeared before the sound four and they all bowed before him.

"Let's go."

The next morning, sakura woke up around 5 am, she looked around and remembered the events of last night. She ran towards the Hokage's office and burst in,

"What's the matter?" Tsunade asked,

"Sa-Sasuke left the Vil-village" Sakura was out of breath, Tsunade's eyes widened,

"SHIZUNE! SUMMON SHIKAMARU NOW!" she said,

Shikamaru was told of the events that happened and was told to form a team to retrieve Sasuke.

That morning, Shikamaru formed a Sasuke retrieval team along with Naruto, Kiba – Akamaru, Neji, and Choji. As they were about to leave, Sakura arrived at the gates,

"Naruto!" she called for him,

"Sakura?"

"Naruto, Pl-please bring Sasuke back," Sakura bowed her head in front of Naruto, Naruto quickly grabbed her and raided her head,

"Sakura, don't worry, I'll bring him back," Naruto smiled,

The got the lead to sasuke's location from Akamaru, and was headed there fast, they were about to reach when Shikamaru called for them to stop. They saw traps everywhere, carefully they make their way through but the enemy was still alerted of their presence. They avoided the traps and came in front of four sound Nins but no Sasuke.

"Where's Sasuke?" Naruto asked, they just smiled,

"Byakugan," Neji saw chakra inside the barrel, "He must inside the barrel, and I can see chakra inside", The team took their defensive stance and was ready to attack, One of the sound four came forward and smirked,

"I'll take care of them,"

"Jirobo, hurry and finish them off, Lord Orochimaru wants us to hurry." The two headed guy said and left

Jirobo made some hand signs "Doton..." He was interrupted, by Naruto throwing a kunai at him,  
"I am not letting Sasuke get away," He said,

He rushed toward Jirobo.

"Naruto wait,"

Jirobo just smirked and was ready to pummel him to death. Jirobo's fist was almost at Naruto's head when all of a sudden he dodged it and went past him.

"What!" Jirobo was now pissed, and was about to jump after Naruto his back exploded and he crashed to the trees,

"That Naruto," Shikamaru laughed "Always amazes me."

"Go ahead, I'll take care of him," Choji replied,

"Are you sure?" Shikamaru asked, and he nodded,

"Alright team let's go." He went after Naruto, and the sound four,

"Are you sure he'll be Ok?" Kiba asked,

"Yeah, he'll be fine," Shikamaru said,

They caught up to Naruto who was facing against a six armed boy. Naruto was caught in a web. The boy threw kunais at Naruto, but it was deflected by Neji's Kaiten, Neji cut the webbings off Naruto.

"Shikamaru, Naruto, Kiba, go on! It seems I will be the one to stay behind." They nodded and left. But the six arm boy shot his webs at the group, Neji quickly intercepted it with Kaiten.

"Your opponent is me, Hyuuga Neji,"

"Ohh! I'm Kidomaru, your last opponent." And he shot Projectiles from his mouth. Neji managed to dodge.

With, Naruto and the others, they managed to catch up to the other sound nin but Kiba had stayed behind to fight against Sakon and Ukon, While Shikamaru and Naruto chased after Tayuya. They managed to corner Tayuya but another Sound Nin showed up and took off with the barrel. Shikamaru told Naruto to go after Sasuke. Now Naruto was facing the last Sound Nin. While he was fighting against Kimimaro, the barrel exploded and Sasuke came out of it. He saw Naruto fighting and Kimimaro told him that Orochimaru was waiting for him and he should hurry. Naruto wanted to go after Sasuke but Kimimaro didn't give him a chance. Naruto tried to get rid of him, but Kimimaro was stronger and smarter than the other sound Nins. After some time Naruto was losing and just when Kimimaro was about to stab him to death, a figure kicked Kimimaro away from Naruto.

Naruto saw lee was standing in front of him, he stared at Kimimaro,

"Naruto Kun, go after Sasuke-kun, I deal with him." Lee said,

"Lee…" Naruto nodded and went after Sasuke, Kimimaro tried to stop Naruto but lee kept intercepting him.

Naruto reached Sasuke at the valley of the end,

"SASUKE!" Naruto shouted to him, Sasuke looked at Naruto with annoyance,

"Don't stop me Naruto, I am going to Orochimaru,"

"Why Sasuke?"

"Why? For power of course, Orochimaru can give me power that Konoha can't" Sasuke laughed,

"Sasuke, you don't have to go to Orochimaru, Konoha has a lot more power that Orochimaru can give you." Naruto said, "That man lost against the Sandaime and ran away, also I faced against him when I was looking for Tsunade, and at that time too he ran away from Tsunade and Orochimaru and both of them are from Konoha."

"You won't be able to convince me with words, Naruto, Just give up!" Sasuke said,

"Fine, then I'll prove it to you with my fists!" and Naruto jumped at Sasuke, and then the fight started,

Back in Konoha, Kakashi had just returned from a solo mission and, had just been informed of the Sasuke event. He straight away rushed toward them. He summoned Pakun and told him to follow Naruto and Sasuke's scent. On the way, he found a very thin Choji who was about to die, and Neji with a hole near his chest. He told the medics to take them back to Konoha.

With Kiba, after a long fight against Sakon and Ukon, he was injured and Akamaru was injured more, He was hiding, but was found. He closed his eyes, as Sakon came in for the killing blow, but he was saved by Kankuro.

Shikamaru was saved by Temari, who attacked Tayuya with her wind jutsu and tore everything in its path towards Tayuya. She smirked at the shock look on Shikamaru's face.

Kimimaro was having a hard time against a drunken lee, whose move was too unpredictable for him. Lee was winning but he soon came out of his drunken state. And that's when Kimimaro took over the fight again. Gaara came in and assisted lee against Kimimaro, but Kimimaro was still winning, until his illness took over and killed him.

Naruto and Sasuke's fight was intense, both were equal and that's when Sasuke used his curse seals second stage. Naruto was losing, but the Kyuubi's chakra leaked and the plane was even again. Naruto charged up Rasengan while Sasuke charged up chidori, they both clashed. The attack took a lot of their energy, both fell down and couldn't move.

"Why Sasuke?" Naruto asked,

"I need to avenge my clan and kill my brother. Staying in Konoha I am not getting any stronger" Sasuke said getting frustrated,

"Sasuke, all you did in Konoha was, stay alone and train alone, if you asked for help instead of ignoring everyone maybe you could have been stronger."

"…" Sasuke just stayed quite.

"And for your brother, you already know he is after me, so instead of searching for him just wait for him to come after me while you train." Naruto said, Sasuke was quite for a long time, and for the first time in a long time Sasuke said something Naruto never would have imagined he would,

"…Naruto…Sorry…" Sasuke said, Naruto just smiled and so did Sasuke,

Kakashi reached to see both Naruto and Sasuke down, he made a shadow clone and carried both of them to Konoha. The Sasuke retrieval mission was a success.

Somewhere unknown, Orochimaru got the news that Sasuke was back in Konoha and he screamed in Rage.

-X-x-X-

 **[A/n: my real story line will start from the next chapter, c ya!]**

Thanks for reading.


	7. Chapter 7

**Naruto: search of the spirit shrine**

 **Chapter 7** : **Mission gone wrong.**

It has been a month since Sasuke tried to escape and, since then he started to change slowly. He started to work with everybody and things were looking great for team 7. Sasuke didn't get it too hard and he also didn't get off that easy. He was put under house arrest, and serviced to community service. He had to do a lot of D rank missions and was under probation. He was forbade from doing any missions other than D rank. Sasuke didn't argue because he knew he got off easy.

Naruto was going to the Hokage's office for something when he overheard a conversation between the advisors, Hokage and Jiraya.

"We can't let you take Naruto away with you, and for three years. No way." One of the Advisor said,

"But it is to train him to protect himself from the Akatsuki." Jiraya argued,

"We can train him here and protect him from Akatsuki, in the village better,"

"He's right Jiraya, when you were looking for me they almost got him, what's to say they don't get him while he is away for three months," Tsunade said,

"Akatsuki, is an organization made of S-rank ninjas, they will tear down the village looking for him, they will not stop until the village is destroyed," he explained, "the three year trip is also to hid him from them and protect the village."

"We can protect the village as well as Naruto, he is not leaving the village, ever." Koharu said,

"So you will keep him locked up in the village and never let him leave?" Jiraya asked,

"If it is necessary, then yes!" Homura said,

"Tsunade, you know he will never go for this, his dream is to travel the world," Jiraya said,

"I sorry Jiraya, but they got a good point, Naruto will have to find a new dream." Tsunade said "I am sorry."

Jiraya, sighed and left.

Naruto heard the entire conversation, as he walked back to his apartment all he could think was how he endangering Konoha and how he would have to give up his dream. He met Sasuke on his way back, he didn't seem to notice him so Sasuke asked if he was ok, he just told him he felt under the weather and left. Naruto stayed up all night thinking about the conversation he overheard. He managed to get a few hours of sleep. He was still tired though.

He met with his team for mission,

"Team 7, you are going to be given a C rank mission today," Tsunade said, "it's a simple c rank, you have to guard this merchant to Ishiyama village. Be careful, that village is close to the Iwa village."

The team nodded and left. Later at the gates they met with the merchant, he was a fat man with green robes and a smile on his face.

"Oh! So you're the people that are going to guide me towards he village. Thank you." He bowed,

"It's our pleasure, Mr…" Kakashi said "I'm sorry but I didn't get your name,"

"Oh my bad, I am Komugi Shokuji, and these are my men" they say 20 carriages all lined up and ready to go.

"Whoa! I thought we were protecting you." Sakura said confused,

"Oh! Hahaha… no my dear, you are protecting me and my goods." Shokuji laughed heartily, "So shall we begin our journey, it will take us about four days to reach there." They just nodded and begun their journey to them Ishiyama village. Their journey started fairly quiet, they got no bandits on the first day of their journey. Naruto was quiet the entire time. They stopped for the day, Naruto seemed to be thinking hard about something, but whenever they asked him what was bothering him he would just smile and pretend that everything was okay. The night went by pretty fast, and they were back on the road.

They were passing by a rocky canyon, when all of a sudden a group of bandits showed up at the top and began to come after the merchant's goods. The team quickly raced towards the bandits.

Naruto jumped up and kicked one of the bandits on the head with his heel and knocked him out. He then took out his Hanbo and started to face the bandits head on, of course that was a reckless move but he managed to knock out the bandits on his side.

Sasuke, on the other hand activated his Sharingan and fought the bandits using taijutsu, he did not bother using any ninjutsu seeing as they were very weak. The bandits saw this and tried to run away from him but he did not let that happen, he used his speed and was in front of the bandits. He smirked at their faces and knocked them out.

The bandits on Sakura's side were all smiling at her and licking their lips,

"if we capture her, we could make a lot of money. Kunoichis' go for a lot of money you know." One of the bandits said, Sakura was both disgusted and amused, disgusted at the thought of them selling her and amused that they thought they could capture he. One of them charged at her but he fell to his knees as soon as he got closer to her, she just smirked and punched him so hard that he crashed to the other bandits. The others saw that he was knocked out by one punch and began to slowly back away. Sakura smirked and said, "You guys are not going anywhere."

Kakashi had the easiest of them all, he was reading a book and using lazy taijutsu to attack the bandits. They didn't even stand a chance against them at all. They finished off the bandits pretty fast. The rest of the day went by fast. The next two days on their journey was the same as before they were attacked by a few bandits, nothing that they could not handle.

They reached the city on the fourth day of their journey, it was night by the time that they reached. The merchant and his goods along with his crewmen were safe and soundly transported to the village. The merchant thanked them,

"There is a festival here tomorrow, you should stick by." the merchant said before he left.

"So team, it's your call" Kakashi said,

"I say we stick around and stay for the festival, I mean we are already here." Sakura said,

"Sasuke?" Kakashi asked,

"It wouldn't be the worst thing if we stayed." Sasuke said, Kakashi nodded.

"Naruto." But Naruto did seem to hear him, he looked like he was not even paying attention,

"Naruto?" Sakura called,

"Hmm,..Oh, yeah its fine." He said,

"You seem distracted, you okay?" Kakashi asked, and he just nodded while Sasuke eyed him with suspicion,

Later, they booked three rooms at a hotel, Sakura took one, Kakashi took one and Sasuke and Naruto shared one.

"Alright, what's going on with you?" Sasuke said,

"What do you mean?" Naruto said,

"Ever since, that day you have been acting strange?" Sasuke said, "Now, what's going on"

"Sasuke, you said that your goal was to get your revenge on Itachi right?"

"Yeah, what of it?" Sasuke asked,

"What if the Hokage forbade you from doing do, what will you do?" Naruto asked,

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, what if, one day you wake up and Konoha forbids you to leave Itachi alone and you realize that you will never be able to achieve your dream?" Naruto asked,

"I don't understand, and besides Konoha would never do that." Sasuke said, "Did something happen that you can't achieve yours?" he asked,

"What, no way! You know what forget it." Naruto said, "Night." And Naruto closed his eyes.

'What going with you Naruto?' Sasuke thought,

The next day, team 7 was roaming around the city and helping with the festivals and doing odd chores.

Later at the festival, team 7 was at the gates waiting for Naruto come. Finally half an hour late, Naruto entered the scene. Kakashi told them that they are free for the night and left them with a smile. Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke were roaming together around the festival, there were games and foods, Sasuke and Sakura seemed to be enjoying. She was dressed up in a pink cherry blossom design Kimono, Sasuke was dressed in a blue Kimono with a cat on the left bottom on the kimono. Naruto wore a simple kimono orange and black kimono. Naruto noticed Sakura kept taking a glance at Sasuke. He realized that even though she is not a fan-girl any more, she still like him. He then smiled upon coming up with an idea,

"Sasuke, Sakura head on ahead, I wanna check on something." Naruto said,

"What?" Sasuke said,

"Just some stuff, not that important, carry on, I'll catch up in a bit," Sasuke nodded and headed on, while Sakura stared at Naruto confused, Naruto smiled and winked at Sakura and that's when she realized what he was trying to do. She blushed and smiled at Naruto and mouthed thank you and lest with Sasuke.

Naruto was now roaming the streets aimlessly, he was looking at all the lights that was put up for the festivals. He didn't look where he was going and crashed into a girl and both of them collapse,

"OW! What the hell!" the girl yelled,

"Ah! So-Sorry, I wasn't looking" Naruto said, "He lent her a hand "Are you okay?"

"Yeah! Thanks." The girl said,

"I'm Naruto, by the way." Naruto said and smiled,

"Kurotsuchi," the girl replied while dusting herself, "are you here all by yourself?"

"You could say that," He laughed and stated to move on, she looked at him in weirdly and followed him,

"Mind of I walk with you, I kind of got lost." She said and he laughed while she got embarrassed, "Hey! This is a very crowded place." She protested,

"You hungry? I was going to grab something to eat if you want to come along I don't mind." Naruto said, she nodded and followed him, on their way to the restaurant they made small talks. They reached a small restaurant, and took their seats, Naruto ordered Ramen while Kurotsuchi ordered some dumplings.

"So is this your first time here?" She asked and he just nodded,

"You?"

"Nah! I come here every year for the fireworks."

"Hmm! I guess if it brings you here every year it must be a pretty awesome fireworks."

"Oh it's the best firework you will ever see in your life." She declared boldly, "Hey! Since you're alone and I'm lost want to watch it together?"

"Sure! That be great." He smiled, they paid and left the place and Kurotsuchi took Naruto somewhere,

"This is the best place to see the fireworks," she said, "Nobody knows about this place." She smiled,

"So, is it like your secret spot?" he asked,

"You could say that,"

"Then, thanks for inviting me." He smiled and sat down next to her and waited for the fireworks to start.

Sasuke and Sakura's night was a little awkward at first after Naruto had left them. They had nothing to talk about and just kept walking. After a while Sakura managed to gain some courage and struck up a conversation, she was surprised when Sasuke responded, she thought that he would have just replied with a nod or something.

After that their night was get less awkward, they played games together and surprisingly Sasuke smile and laughed a few times. They were on their way to a restaurant when they saw Naruto walking out of their with a girl, they were both pretty surprised,

"So that's where he was off to." Sasuke said,

"Should we meet up with him," Sakura asked, Sasuke shook his head no,

"No, don't want to interrupt his date, and besides he seems less distracted now," Sasuke said and Sakura also notice Naruto was less distracted, they went in to the restaurant to eat.

The fireworks started about an hour after Sasuke and Sakura had their meal. The fireworks were beautiful and mind blowing.

Later at the hotel, Naruto came in a little later than Sasuke, he saw that Sasuke had already fallen asleep and so he shut off his eyes as well.

The next day, team seven was ready to leave the city. They were being cautious as the city was near the edge of the Tsuchi country.

"So, Naruto" Sakura said, "who was the girl with you last night?" Naruto looked at he surprised,

"You guys saw?" he laughed, "I don't really know, we just talked small stuff and watched the fireworks together."

"So, you know nothing about her." Sasuke said,

"Yea" Naruto laughed embarrassed, "anyways how was your night."

Sasuke and Sakura blushed, and Sasuke quickly replied, "It was fine"

Naruto eyed them suspiciously "I suspect something happened, tell me!"

"Wh-what no-nothing happened!" sakura spluttered,

"Now, I'm sure something happen, tell me! Tell me!" Naruto kept bugging them, Kakashi just smiled at his team's antics. He remembered their first meeting and how they were and now they were best friends. He suddenly told his team to stop, they stopped all their jokes and became serious. Two, Iwa teams came out of the forest,

"Well, well, well, what do we have here? A bunch of tree huggers." One of them said, and they laughed,

"That brat looks like the Yondaime's," one of them said, "hey you brat in orange, who's your father."

Naruto didn't reply, and team 7 took up a defensive stance,

"Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, I know you guys already figured out we won't be able to take them all out," they looked at him "I'll cover your escape, you have to run." Kakashi said,

"Sensei!" Naruto exclaimed and was about to argue, when Kakashi cut him off, "Don't argue Naruto," Naruto saw Kakashi's determination to protect the team and nodded along with Sasuke and Sakura, and Kakashi smiled,

"Come back safe, sensei." Naruto said,

"Oi, Oi, Oi, what are you planning out there," one of the genins said,

"Now, RUN!" Kakashi shouted and threw a dozen of kunais with exploding tags, the area was covered with smoke, and the trio made their escape,

"Get After them!" The Iwa jonins said to the genins, and they charged at Kakashi.

Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto ran but they were caught up by six genins and they seemed to be very strong, one of them used Yonton jutsus (lava style), they didn't fight as they knew it was very risky so they kept running. After sometime the Iwa genins were joined by three more genins.

After running for a while they were trapped and cornered, the Iwa Nin were throwing jutsus continuously at them,

"Sasuke, Sakura," Naruto grabbed their shoulder, "run as fast as you can! I distract them"

"WHAT! NO WAY!" Sakura shouted, "Are you crazy," Sakura slapped Naruto's hand away,

"Sasuke," Naruto looked at Sasuke said,

"Why are you doing this?" Sasuke asked, Naruto looked at Sasuke with a sad look,

"The lesser we are the more chance there is of escaping, you know as well as I do if we stick together then we are sure to be captured or killed, so…" Sasuke interrupted him again,

"No! I mean why are you doing this sacrifice?" Sasuke said intently.

"You remember about what I said about the dream thing," Naruto said,

"Yeah?" Sasuke said and looked confused and then he realized what Naruto meant,

"During our time together I gained one more dream," He looked at both Sasuke and sakura and smiled, "To protect my friends, but specifically you two."

"Naruto…" Sakura did not know what to say, Sasuke was speechless as well,

"Don't worry I'll not die, I promise…Sasuke, Sakura."

"You better not, Dobe" Naruto smiled at the name, Sasuke nodded and held Sakura, while Naruto created three Kage bushin and ran, while sakura shouted at Naruto stop.

Naruto was running away, and then one of their jutsu hit the clone of Sasuke and Sakura and they poofed away,

"They tricked us, Yamada, Kurotsuchi, take your teams and go after the other team," one of the genins said,

"Don't order me around, Haroda!" Kurotsuchi said,

"Leave him be, Kurotsuchi." Yamada said and they left.

Sakura and Sasuke were hiding behind some trees, they thought they were well hidden but it seem they weren't. Kurotsuchi and Yamada found them rather easily. Sasuke and Sakura took up defensive stance, and the Iwa Nin were ready to attack but suddenly sakura recognized Kurotsuchi.

"Hey! You're the girl that was with Naruto!" Sakura suddenly exclaimed,

"Naruto!?" Kurotsuchi was surprised that the opponent knew the boy she met yesterday, "How do you know him!"

"He is our teammate!" Sasuke said,

"Kurotsuchi, lets attack!" Yamada said, Kurotsuchi hesitated but sighed,

"I'm sorry but you got my sensei's order," Kurotsuchi said and was about to attack but Sasuke threw exploding tags at them, they jumped away, as the explosion cleared Sasuke and Sakura were gone. They were going to go after them when their sensei showed up all beaten and bruised,

"DAD!" Kurotsuchi shouted,

"Let's head back," The sensei said,

"Kitsuchi sensei, where is keno sensei and Yamamoto sensei?" Yamada asked,

"Dead! Let's hurry and leave! We underestimated them," Kitsuchi said, they nodded and left,

Kakashi met up with Sasuke and Sakura all bruised up, he asked about Naruto and they told him what had transpired. Now they were looking for Naruto, they were spread out and looking at the direction that he last headed. A few minutes later they heard Sakura shouting and calling for them, when they reached her they saw her staring at something. They saw where she was looking and was shocked at what they saw. There on the ground a Konoha forehead protector with a black sash almost burnt and an almost full burnt orange Kimono shirt and next to it seemed to be ashes and human bones. They were speechless, Sakura fell on her knees and started crying while Sasuke held her, Kakashi also had tears in his lone eyes. They scooped up the remains and left for Konoha.

The village was mostly silent, every ninja who knew Naruto was shocked by the news, Hinata's world was rocked to the core she couldn't believe what happened and refused to believed, all of Naruto's classmates were also shocked. They had a funeral for him, It was a small funeral only those who knew Naruto had come to pay respect. At the funeral, Sasuke got up to give a few words for his friend,

"Naruto… he was something else, at first I found him a hindrance and annoying, I thought of him as a loser like everyone, but as we spent more time together I saw that he was an awesome ninja and a smart one too, but more than that I found out that he will do anything to protect his friends, and that's what he did, if it weren't for Naruto Sakura and I would not have been here, he sacrificed his life for us and died with a smile on his face, I hope you're happy on the other side Naruto. Thank you for all you've done for me." With that he ended his speech, Sakura was asked if she wanted to say something, she tried but nothing came out from her mouth, the day was a sad one for the former Konoha 12, they all paid respects and Naruto's ashes and bones were buried under ground. Soon everyone started to leave and the grave was silent with the wind howling over it.

 **The end?**

 **Happy new year to all my readers! And**

 **Thank you for reading**


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